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do.”
    “But
why did he go out if there is so much snow outside? Do they know what our car
looks like?”
    “He
had snow tires on that car and knew to drive slowly. He took the car last night
to go to the hotel that we passed on the way here. He should’ve been back last
night. I gave the police all of the information, sweetie.”
    Maria
pulled her knees up to her chest from under the blanket. The tone of her voice
got sharper. “So then why isn’t someone trying to find him? We can’t just leave
him stuck out in the snow!”
    “That’s
exactly what the police are gonna be doing soon. They will locate our car and
certainly find Stephen. Don’t worry, Maria, I’m sure he’ll be ok. This isn’t
the first time your father has disappeared for a while without saying
anything.”
    Maria
recalled the only other time that her father left for several days without
telling her. It was shortly after the wedding, when he had an important
out-of-state business meeting. He always told Maria if he had to travel
somewhere and just how much he loved her before leaving her with a nanny. But
on this occasion he had gotten into an argument with Tammy before he left about
the management of his business computer files. Maria just remembered Tammy
drilling Stephen for his passwords, and him storming out of the villa in anger.
When he returned, he had a big bouquet of flowers for Tammy, and was very
apologetic to Maria.
    “But
did you even check the cell phone? Maybe he tried to call! Did you try to call
him to see if he answers?”
    “Maria
dear, I’ve had the cell phone with me the whole night. Of course I tried to
call. When your father is able to, I am sure he’ll call me back. Now please,
stop badgering me with questions.”
    As
Tammy stepped out of the bedroom, she began coughing profusely. The living room
was filling up with smoke that came pouring out of the fireplace. She waved her
hands back in forth in front of her eyes to clear the smoke so she could see
what was happening better. Somehow, the smoke was not going up the chimney.
Tammy ran towards the fireplace and grabbed the iron poker. She pushed it
inside the fireplace and up towards the flue to discover that indeed the damper
was closed. Unable to open it, she rushed into the kitchen and started to fill
a large pot with water. The smoke was rapidly filling the room and it was
becoming difficult to see. She closed her eyes for a moment to stop the burning
and then darted towards the fireplace. Tammy hurled the water onto the fire and
ashes went flying up and into her face. As the flame and hot coals were
extinguished, even more smoke came into the room. In a fit of coughs and barely
able to breathe, she ran into her stepdaughter’s bedroom and closed the door.
    Maria
shrieked as Tammy came into to the bedroom. “Tammy, my nose and eyes are
burning. Where’s all that smoke coming from?”
    Tammy
opened the bedroom window. “It’s coming from the fireplace. There’s a lot of
smoke inside the house so come here to the window ledge and breathe in some
fresh air.” Maria inhaled the ice cold air from outside and let out a few hard
coughs. Tammy threw a blanket at her. “Here, keep this around you and put your
dang jacket on. I need to open some more windows.” As she exited the room,
Tammy held her breath, and then ran to open windows in the living room and the other
bedroom. Her lungs burned with each inhale but it was better to breathe in
freezing cold air than dangerous smoke, she thought. She sat on the floor where
there was less smoke and covered her eyes with the palms of her hands. Her
nerves were a wreck and she was brooding. I
made sure that goddam fireplace was open. There’s no fucking way that smoke
should’ve come into the cabin like that. How could things be going so horribly wrong? And what the hell is
taking the police so damn long? Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by
the ringing of her cell phone.
    “Mrs.
Worthington? This is officer